The concerns of brutality against this country’s law enforcers raised by Amnesty International of Canada is not a matter at which we ought to shrug our shoulders. It is certainly not the kind of attention that the Royal Barbados Police Force needs; neither can the charges be shoved aside.
Every so often, police officers are accused of some infraction by members of the public. Often these complaints are simply dismissed or ignored.
The often trumpeted retort is that any complaints can be made to the internal investigation officers or the Police Complaints Authority.
The truth is that most members of the public with a complaint simply ignore the source to which they are guided.
Our law enforcers generally do a good job in fighting crime and upholding the law. We ought to be very proud of their performance and can rest safe in the knowledge that most of them put country and people first when doing their job. It is a labour of love with little financial gain.
But we would be playing ostrich if we did not accept that there have always been exceptions to the decency observed by the majority of our police officers.
The word “force” in the name of our constabulary must not be taken literally. And while it is a small point, perhaps the time has come that our law enforcement agency be renamed the Barbados Police Department or Service.
Brutality by any of our policemen is not the kind of situation which we as a people ought to condone, or, even more importantly, pretend does not happen. Neither should it be excused on the grounds that offenders, in committing their crimes, have no regard for their victims. Our lawmen must be held to a higher standard.
This is where adherence to ethics, continuous exposure to modern investigation techniques and the use of modern technology such as the use of a video camera during investigations must become a standard practice. Application of these processes can help to minimise the wrong kind of learnt behaviour.
The protestations of Amnesty International have in the past upset many Barbadians. The feeling has been that Amnesty and other international agencies critical of our institutions ought to stay out of our internal affairs. But that will not happen.
The world today is a different place and watchdog agencies will keep their eyes on us.